Archive for August, 2013

Recent research by the Yankee Group forecasts that the emerging market Policy on the Device solutions will enjoy rapid growth in the coming years, experiencing 60% CAGR and reaching more than $500 million by 2016.

MNOs have begun to increasingly explore the potential of extending policy control architecture to devices in recent years and this activity has resulted in the recognition that the deployment of Policy Enforcement Points (PEP) on smart devices can address a number of challenges:

Granular and real-time control of access network selection, including WiFi offload

In the report, Yankee Group forecasts significant activity in this nascent market and that it will grow from $42 million today to exceed $500 million in 2016. GoS Networks has been identified as one of the vendors driving this market and delivering the broadest portfolio of solutions from a single smart device client for MNOs.

The report is available from GoS free of charge under a special licensing arrangement. If you would like to obtain a copy, all you need to do is register and it will be sent straight to your inbox.

Policy on the Device (PoD) is now essential according to industry analysts Yankee Group. Mobile Network Operators have been able to understand what their subscribers are doing for a long time. But what they cannot do is to extend their reach into the RAN so that they can implement policies that act at the level of the device in order to enhance user experience. As Yankee puts it “they can look, but the couldn’t touch”.

As we have long argued, the only way to solve this problem – for the benefit of users and MNOs – is actually to go further and extend policy control not only to the RAN, but beyond, all the way to mobile and smart devices. By deploying PEP solutions on devices, the real experience of users can be taken into account. It seems the industry is starting to agree and the benefits of making devices PEPs are becoming clearer. So much so that there is now an identifiable, quantifiable market in PoD solutions – in which we play a leading role.

Yankee identifies WiFi offload as a key initial driver for the deployment of PoD solutions, largely because users are independently opting to connect to WiFi rather than cellular networks when in a fixed location – which in turn is slowing the much-feared growth in mobile data. Active PoD solutions can make the customer experience in selecting between access networks simpler, seamless and automatic.

But while WiFi offload may be driving early-stage deployments, we know there are many other use cases that are contributing to uptake of PoD solutions. These include reducing the impact of chatty applications, extending battery life, ensuring QoS guarantees and others that are addressed by the GoS Networks solution. In fact, that’s a critical point: to be efficient and effective, any PoD solution should not be limited to a single use case, but rather available as a platform to support a range of use cases that can be extended as and when required.

That’s why GoS Networks is at the forefront of this emerging technology domain. Why not talk to us and find out how we can help MNOs make the most of PoD and support an expanding range of use cases to suit changing network and user requirements?

Service assurance is a complex challenge for operators. They have complicated networks with a wide range of solutions to manage. Until recently, the emphasis has largely been on ensuring that the network functions correctly, with trouble-shooting being a key element of that task.

Lately, more attention has been paid to the needs of the user – as their consumption of services has increased and network operators have had to wrestle with delivering services from a growing range of over-the-top providers, user experience has become a critical factor. In fact, it has a significant role in network selection and hence in both attracting new customers and retaining existing ones. Customer experience matters, as it impacts the bottom line.

That’s why, in addition to ensuring that the network is functioning correctly and adapts to growth, network operators have to understand more about how services perform from the perspective of the customer – both individually and in aggregate. Service assurance programmes must now include not only individual users but also a wider range of smart devices that have different characteristics.

Additionally as customers connect to heterogeneous networks to obtain an always best connected experience, in many cases the service is being delivered through third-party networks (for example, WiFi public access points). This can lead to a lack of visibility of user experience and whether the third parties are meeting service SLA’s.

The only way to achieve a true end-to-end view of performance from an end user perspective across any used network is to deploy solutions on smart devices that can provide data on performance and that can work to optimise conditions in conjunction with network policy platforms. GoS 360° enables network operators to understand the user experience at the level of the device and to act to ensure that it is delivered as expected. At the same time as helping to meet individual user expectations, aggregated data can provide a picture of experience across owned and third-party networks.

Service assurance is a key tool in helping protect and grow revenue and profit. Network operators must integrate the user perspective into their service assurance programmes so that they understand and keep abreast of growing user demands – and ensure that their own service guarantees are met. Why not talk to GoS and find out how we help network operators meet this challenge?